Apocalypse
by KidFlash014
Summary: In the title, the teaum move to confront the Reach. There are some little errors where i haven't been able to edit it cuz computers dont like me. :S also, is my first story with chapters (yay) -MAY I ALSO SAY THAT NOT ALL TEAM MEMBERS ARE INCLUDED-
1. Chapter 1

"Wally?" Nightwing asked, wondering around the mountain. He had just left Wally for five minutes and already he has disappeared. "Wally where are you?" he asked again, louder this time. There was a blur and a loud crash as Wally ran straight past him and went straight into the wall.  
"Still gotta get used to this new floor." He said, walking to Nightwing, rubbing his head.  
"There's no new floor Wally, just your thick head." Nightwing joked, as they made their way to the kitchen.

"So, what's the mission for today?" Wally asked, leaning on the counter. "Is it Joker? Ooh, maybe the Riddler? Oooorrrr….is it Harleeeyyy?"  
"Neither of those." Nightwing said. "There is no mission."  
"Then why are you in your costume?" Wally asked.  
"Just some business I had to take care of earlier."  
"Why'd you call me?" Wally questioned, walking to the cupboard to grab something to eat.  
"I was rummaging through your stuff, and-"  
"-WHAT?!" Wally's face flushed a bright red. "Why?!"  
Nightwing simply smiled then continued, "I was looking through your stuff, and I found a note from Bart."  
"What note?" Wally asked in a muffled voice as he chewed on a packet of Doritos.  
"This note." Nightwing answered, passing Wally the letter from Bart.  
"Oh. That. It's nothing, Di-Nightwing." He said, placing the letter beside him. "We don't need to worry about it." Wally stepped forward, smiling gently.  
"Wally. This is serious. What if it could actually happen?"  
"Bud, Blue's scarab is all sorted. And either way, the Reach are practically outnumbered." Wally assured Nightwing, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Now, how about you get outta that costume, and we go watch a film or something?"

"Bart, where did you-"  
"What? I only went next-door." Bart sat beside Jaime, handing him handing him a Cola. "Two for a dollar. How crash is that?"  
"Crash, I guess. Don't you have homework to do?" Jaime looked up from his own homework, "Your math teacher won't be the best if she doesn't see your homework."  
"Hermanoooo, it's crash, I'll do it later. I gotta wait for Wally to come over. He's more important right now." Bart took a gulp of his cola. "Much more important."

Later on, Wally turned up with Dick, who was holding the letter Bart had given him. "Is this true?! Is this going to happen?!" Dick asked, a stern expression on his face as he stomped up to Bart, pushing the note to his chest.  
"Whoa whoa whoa, whoa! Wally? I told you to come, not h too. He'll over exaggerate, I said. And look, he's only just stepped foot inside, and he's already gone all mode!"  
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! He kept questioning me and everything, then he demanded, I mean _demanded _to see you about it."  
"You should've hid it harder." Bart pouted. "Why'd you go through his stuff anyway?" he asked Dick.  
"Never have you minded. I only came here to talk about the letter, not what we do and why." Dick answered, throwing the letter on the table in front of Bart. "Is it true?" he repeated.  
"Well…it was supposed to be a rough suggestion, not crash, I know. But, like I said, it's a suggestion, and most of the time, my suggestions never happen. So, basically…no. it won't." Bart replied while speed-reading his letter. "Well, it might….but it can't"  
"Make up your mind, Bart." Dick said.  
"Well it's difficult when you have to really think about it. If it can happen, what happens? But what happens if we're all crash and it doesn't happen? Would wweeee….feel the mode? You know, a certain sacrifice takes place for it not happening?"  
"Bart, you're making this confusing. What are you guys on about?" Jaime asked. 

Bart, Dick and Wally exchanged looks, then after a long silence, Bart replied, "The Reach Apocalypse."


	2. Chapter 2

"What?! I thought you said it couldn't happen! I mean, my scarab, Green Beetle sorted it out, didn't he?!" Jaime panicked, eyes wide as he stood up, knocking the chair to the floor as he got up. Bart walked to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.  
"Hermano, it's ok. Yeah, Green fixed you up, and we're all gonna be crash." He smiled. "And anyway, like I said, it's not likely to happen."

Wally took a step towards the two. "But what if it does? What if there really would be a Reach apocalypse?"  
Bart gave a plain look then his face saddened. "Maybe, if we're not so lucky, it could be the end of the world." There was a pause, creating a heavy atmosphere. Until Bart broke the silence. "But we're always lucky here, so, you know. All crash."

Much later that night, Dick and Wally had gone home, leaving Bart and Jaime to discuss things further. Yet with Bart being so tired, they had just about covered the exact same thing they had while Wally and Dick were there before Bart had to leave to go home to sleep before he crashed out.

The next morning hadn't been a great one, as at the beginning of dawn, the Reach had decided to send down a few of its soldiers. Yet of course, -as always- the team had defeated them with no difficulty. But as the days went on, the Reach had been sending soldiers out more and more often for each day, at either the earliest of times, to the latest of times.

Yet while the soldiers had been defeated, they had become stronger, and more strategic each time they appeared. Once or twice, they had managed to out-wit the team, and instead, defeated them. It was almost like a test, an observation on the team's many strategies.

Through many meeting and training/sparring sessions, the team had managed to start defeating the soldiers again. Alas, as they had advantaged, the waves of soldiers had developed, and started their cycle of triumph again.

"Dude, we can't keep having to do this every day! I mean, have you seen how tired everyone is?! We're losing, _Dick_. That's not a good thing." Wally came face-to-face with Nightwing, gesturing at the exhausted movements of the younger members of the team.  
"We can't do anything, Wally." Nightwing simply replied through gritted teeth, clearly annoyed at how Wally had called him by name.  
"No? why don't we try going up and confronting them?! That way, the team won't be too tired to fight the soldiers every day!" Wally practically pushed Nightwing to the side as he walked past to the younger members, who were either rubbing their eyes or yawning. "if we could figure a way to defeat those soldiers, then the JLA can easily do it too. At least then, we would be able to actually get some rest." As he left the room, he stopped in the doorway, looked over his shoulder with a glare in his eyes, then added, "You need to start considering others before you drag them out to kill them.


	3. Chapter 3-Disaster

Not long after Wally's outburst, the JLA had begun to swiftly destroy the soldiers, and not long after that –perhaps a week-, the soldiers had stopped invading. There had been the general nuisance of common villains like the small gangs which kept to the alleys, and the burglars, which obviously weren't too great at their jobs, having been easily taken out by not even half the Young Justice team.

From a month or two onwards, business for our heroes was business like any other day. As Nightwing had ordered, the team had arranged to launch an attack upon the Reach. They had met up, and planned their attack, along with a few back-up plans if anything were to go wrong. But nothing they planned could prepare them for what happened….

They had made their way into the Reach ship undetected, taking out any of the soldiers in sight. They reached the centre of the ship, but hadn't expected it to have been empty. There wasn't even a soldier in sight. Nightwing walked further in, then signalled for the rest to follow. They walked to the centre, on full awareness. Since the Justice League had disappeared, nobody had seen either of the Beetles, even Blue had gone. The Reach Ambassador had also appeared missing, and their scientist presumed dead after a nasty error with Black Beetle. Though the Ambassador had grieved her loss, he couldn't have bothered less, with most of their research completed anyway.

There was a minutes wait until a door opened. The team spun around and stood ready, as a figure appeared. As he came closer into view, the team were surprised to see the Blue Beetle. Impulse immediately ran up to him, and yelled "Blue! Have you been up here all this time?! Dude I thought you were dead!" his beaming smile slowly swept off his face when Blue had stared at him mindlessly. "Buddy?" Impulse took a step closer and went to put his hand on his arm. As he did so, Blue Beetle quickly took an aggressive hold of his wrist, and bent his back harshly, making the boy scream. As the speedster fell to the floor, arm still in the Beetle's grasp, Robin ran in to tackle Blue Beetle but finding himself being thrown into a wall with a heavy, powerful punch.

As the rest of the team moved in to attack, another door opened, and casually strolling in were Black and Green Beetle. "Well done little brother. You have done better than I had anticipated. Now finish them." Black Beetle said. Blue Beetle looked back down at a struggling Impulse, and made a rapid movement which followed with an ear-piercing yell and a discomforting _click!_ as he snapped the speedsters arm at the elbow and fractured his wrist bone. Blue then threw Impulse aside from his wrist, possibly dislocating it completely. Robin ran up to Blue, holding his escrima sticks before him. He whacked Blue Beetle in the back of his head and went to tackle him. The Beetle grabbed the other end of the weapon, and jabbed it into Robin's stomach, making him hunch over.

The team watched in horror as Blue Beetle created a hammer and full-on struck Robin in the side of his head, cracking his skull slightly by his eye. Dazed, Robin stumbled to the ground. Before Blue could do anymore, Nightwing flipped. He yelled and ran for Blue Beetle, cursing and swearing. Yet, he didn't get very far, because Green Beetle had shot him in the ankle and back of his knee, making him fall. Green Beetle was wrestling Superboy and Lagoon Boy, and the remaining members of the team battling Black Beetle.

Making another attempt to get up, Nightwing shouted and had almost cried when he saw Blue Beetle form a sword, and hold Robin up by his head. Looking back at Nightwing, smirking, Blue Beetle slit Robins' throat and threw him to the floor as if he was rubbish. Robin's face softened as if he was sleeping, his eyes closed as blood ran like a small river from the fatal injury which was almost cut halfway through his throat. Ignoring the pain he was in, tears rolling silently down his cheeks, Nightwing ran and tackled Blue Beetle to the ground, aggressively punching him in the face, like there was no tomorrow. But of course, Blue fought back, returning the punches. They fiercely battled, until Blue Beetle kicked Nightwing in the crotch with his knee, flipped him over so he (Blue Beetle) was on top of Nightwing, and dashed the Boy Wonders face into the floor, crafting a gun and pointing it at Nightwing's head as he held him down.

"GET THE FUCK OFF ME!" Nightwing shouted through gritted teeth, shuffling and thrashing about in an attempt to get up. Blue Beetle pushed down harder and fired up his gun. "Wing!" Zatanna shouted and –while levitating- rushed to him. She cast a spell that switched Blue with another team member. "hctiwS htiw diK hsalF!" the magician yelled, just as Blue shot. Kid Flash almost screamed like a girl at the unexpected switch. He jumped off of Nightwing, his cheeks a little shade of red. "Thatwasembarrasing." He mumbled quickly as he helped Nightwing up.

Without even looking at Kid or even saying a word, Nightwing limped as fast as he could to Tim and fell beside him, stroking his younger brother's hair. "I…don't want to ruin this moment for ya 'Wing, but we're kinda getting our asses kicked right now." Kid Flash said as he stood beside Robins' body. He helped a tearful Nightwing to his feet and ran him to a safe spot. "Dude, please, with those injuries, the best you'd manage is a few steps, not even that." KF concerned. "you can probably use some of your gadgets or something but I th-" he was cut off when a raged Black Beetle punched him aside and grabbed Nightwing by the neck and pinned him against the wall.

Nightwing gasped for air and reached into his utility belt for a birderang, in which he forcefully jabbed into his attacker's arm. He choked and quickly moved his hands to Black Beetle's wrist and weakly tried to shove him off as his head was heavily bashed into the wall (ya know, like Black Beetle did with Wondergirl). Black Beetle produced a sword, in which he held to Nightwing's throat. "Be a good bird, you don't want to end up like your brother." He taunted as he turned his head to the side, indicating the poor Tim, who still lay on the floor, his face now completely pale.


	4. Chapter 4-Disaster emphasis on the dis

Blue Beetle strolled up to Impulse, smirking. "Blue.." Impulse half-begged through tears of pain. Blue leant down to him and smiled further, then quickly placed an inhibitor collar on the speedster (wherever he got that from) and stood up again, and heavily placed his foot on the speedsters leg. "Blue…..?" Bart asked again, struggling under the force the Beetle was putting on his leg. (note the fact that his wrist and arm is entirely broken so he's practically unable to shuffle away _Chapter 3_)

Black Beetle leant forward and choked Nightwing harder _then , still holding the ninjas neck, he leant forward even more, and licked his cheek, purring slightly_ (lol sorry) Nightwing's face was turning purple as he struggled to think, then he pulled something out of his utility belt and cursed "Take….take this…you douche!" and slammed it into Black Beetle's face. The Beetle held his own throat, choking on the smoke from the smoke bomb and so had let go of Nightwing. They glared at each other as they gasped for air.

On the other side of the room, Green Beetle had snuck up behind Zatanna, and in his serpentine form, wrapped his body around her. He clasped his hand over the magicians mouth tightly as so she cannot utter a spell against him. She struggled through his tight grip and yelled under his hand as she felt a sharp point dig into her neck and a cold liquid oozing through her veins. After two seconds, he let her go and morphed back into his standard form. He stood and watched her for a few seconds then flew up to gain pursuit of Miss Martian as Artemis ran over; bow in hand screaming "Zee!" She got to the magician and knelt beside her, holding her up. Zatanna was hyperventilating and her heart beat had dramatically risen in that short time. Artemis looked beside her and picked up an empty syringe. '_Shit!'_ she thought, and looked back at Zatanna, who now appeared to be in excruciating pain. '_Why didn't you think of this before?! Of course they would use this against her! Artemis, you fucked up!' _she thought to herself as she threw the syringe aside and gently pulled down Zatanna's eyelid, to find that the magicians eyes were heavily dilated. "oh Zee…" She said, her eyes watering.

Looking over and seeing Zatanna's state, Black Beetle smiled. "Two of your members down, and the battle had only just begun." He said, as he stood up. "When we come again, you'd all best be on your guard." He said as he walked away, signalling the other two to follow.  
"Adios, _amigo_." Blue Beetle said, as he took his foot off of Impulses leg and walked away also. The three Beetles walked out of the door, and disappeared. Green Beetle smirked back at the magician and archer, as he knew, an overdose of Vertigo would definitely end Zatanna.

Kid Flash sped over to Nightwing, sat him up to make sure he was ok, then he picked him up and sped over to Zatanna, Artemis and the rest of the team. He dropped him off beside Zee, who was twitching rapidly and screaming and yelling in agony as the drug overpowered her. Nightwing held Zatanna's head in his hands, eyes watering as he held back his cry. "Zee.." He said, his voice croaky and almost barely audible. She moved to speak back but screamed louder at the pain of the small movement. At this, Nightwing held her harder and practically shouted out "ZEE!" He looked up at Miss Martian and desperately asked, "Miss M….can't you heal her?!"  
"I….I'm sorry….but…." The Martian began, she too, close to tears.

Zatanna's fidgeting slowly stopped and Nightwing smiled, thinking she would be ok, but when her breathing slowed and her eyes loosened, he leant forward and yelled "Zee? Zee?!" The young magician's heart stopped beating, she stopped breathing, she stopped yelling. Nightwing yelled out for her, and desperately tried to somehow get her back, but seeing he could do nothing, he leant his head on hers, and cried over her, planting kisses on her cheeks and forehead. "Zee…." He repeated until he couldn't speak anymore.

A Reach soldier popped his head round the door, and immediately went to the Ambassador. "The magician is ridden of?" He asked the soldier as he stood at the window-wall (?), his arms behind his back (like a sir). The soldier nodded in affirmation and asked something in the Reach language. "Yes. But be quick. We do not want any delays." The soldier nodded again, and left the room. _In the room, were the three Beetles, sitting on a large desk, swinging their legs childishly and singing nursery rhymes. (_sorry) The three Beetles were standing amongst each other, quietly discussing their next moves.  
"When do we finish them off?" Blue Beetle asked. Ever since he had broken Impulse's arm, he had somehow felt more confident in his wrong-doing.  
"We will return to them when the time is right." Green Beetle answered. "For now, we must strategize who each of us target. This way, we can fluently take out the remaining members of the Young Justice team."

The Reach soldier silently ran to Timmy, and attempted to silently drag him away to the labs. He had managed to drag him to the nearest door, but was spotted and pinned down by Kid Flash. "Where did they go?!" he asked, holding up his arm, threatening to punch the soldier. It shifted and attempted to escape, then tried to tug Timmy closer to the door. "Where, did the Beetles go?" KF demanded again, leaning closer and raising his arm more. As if on cue, Blue Beetle came through the door that the soldier was trying was trying to pass Tim through.  
"I'm here." He said, and shot Kid Flash in the head with his sonic cannon (or disruptor?).

"Kid!" Artemis yelled, she attempted to run towards him, only to be thrown back by another blast from Blue.  
"Sleep tight." he grinned, before dropping a canister filled with knock out gas. The team covered their mouths, and went to where KF, Tim, Blue and the soldier were. Yet they saw nothing, and it wasn't long until the weaker members of the team like Nightwing and Impulse lost their breath and collapsed to the floor.  
"Bart!" M'gann rushed over to the boy and picked him up. "His pulse is weak, we gotta get him to the Watchtower!"  
Aqualad took charge, "Superboy, get Nightwing." he said, picking up Zatanna.  
"Wally..." Artemis started to say, and looked back at the door in which she had last seen him. She joined the team on their little run back to the bioship, and there, they headed to the Watchtower.

Nightwing awoke to find himself in the Watchtower infirmary. He winced as he tried to sit up, painfully reminding him of the beat down he took from Black Beetle. He wearily glanced his head to the left, where he saw Bart lying unconscious in the adjacent hospital bed, with a blood bag and IV drip hooked onto his arm. A cast was just visible through the sheets for his arm. He then looked right, hoping to see Wally or Zee, but instead, he saw Artemis, smiling at his recovery. Her eyes were red and puffy, clearly from crying. "Hey." she said, voice shaky, "How you holding up?"  
Dick frowned. "I've been better. What...what happened again?"  
"We were on the Reach ship." she said, making an effort to smile.  
"Oh yeah..." Dick said, looking around again. "Is everyone else OK?" he asked.  
"No..." she responded, eyes watering slightly.  
"Who...what...?" he asked sympathetically and confused.  
"Wally...he's been taken captive..."  
"What?!" Nightwing promptly fell out of the infirmary bed. "We gotta go help him!"

Artemis helped him up and gave him two crutches. "And...they...they took Tim."  
Dick stared at her. "What?"  
"They...took Tim." She repeated, looking down at the floor.


	5. Chapter 5

Wally's eyes fluttered open, his head pounded. He took note of his surroundings. A grey room, with no window and a pathetic excuse for a door. As he tried to rub his neck, he found an inhibitor collar around his throat. "Great," he said, and held his head in his hands. "first everyone dies, then I'm held captive for torture." he let out a sarcastic laugh. "Mazing." he sighed, "could this get any worse?!" _Creeaaakk._ The pathetic door swung open, to reveal the notorious Black Beetle, carrying Tim by the scruff of his cloak. "Oh, it's you." Wally glared at the Beetle, standing up.

"Where are the others? What have you don't to them?!"  
"Nevermind those. They left you to our hands and fled." Black Beetle answers, smiling, then he threw forwards the limp body of Tim and ordered, "Clone him."  
Wally gagged, and practically had to hold back his vomit. "You sick son of a-" Black Beetle strode forwards and grabbed Wally by the front of his costume.  
"I suggest you watch your tone meat...you wouldn't want anything happening to the Artemis would you?" He threw Wally back down and repeated, "Now clone him."  
Kid Flash hesitated to move. "I can't. I won't." At this, Black Beetle formed a gun and shot him in the shoulder, and practically yelled, "You can, and you WILL!"  
Wally swallowed the scream threatening to rise. "Go to Tartarus!"He spat. "God for once I'm glad for Zee's insults...oh Zee.."

Black Beetle smirked then frowned again. "If you have not cloned the Robin at least once in the space of twelve hours, you will join 'Zee' in 'Tartarus'." He strolled out of the room, the door closing just slightly harder than usual.  
"What am I gonna do? I...I can't clone Tim..." he stroked the younger boys hair. "But if I don't I'm dead." Wally glanced up at the ceiling. "I HOPE YOU CAN HEAR ME YOU FUCKING PSYCHOS! GO FUCK YOURSELVES!" He slammed his fists on the floor and yelled in anger. He looked around at the various equipment set out for him. "You sick bastards." He mumbled as he looked back down at Tim. "AHH!" He yelped as he received an electric shock through the collar. "What the fu-"  
'_If you do not cooperate, there will be more than just electric shocks.' _The Ambassador's voice was heard.

"FINE OK?! JUST WAIT GODDAMN IT! FUCK!" He shouted, walking up to the equipment. '_wow..'_ he thought as he inspected it all. He walked back to Tim, and uncomfortably carried him onto a table then picked out a few strands of his hair. "I'm sorry Timmy." He whispered before setting to work. Within an hour he was sweating like hell and Tim, unfortunately, had started to decompose.

Wally had started to make around five clones until he started growing tired, and weak. "Ugghh...how many do they want?" He asked himself as he sat down, fiddling with a strand of Tim's hair. He received a small electric shock as he closed his eyes, and growled in annoyance. "I'm going as fast as I can! And in case you haven't noticed, I'm kinda tired!" _Bzzt!_ "Ow!"

Through a small slit in the door, a plate was pushed through with some bread and cheese on it, along with a glass of water. "How do I know it's not poisoned?!"  
"Trust me, we would not intend to poison our only scientist. Eat." Green Beetle's voice was heard through the other side of the door, followed by the sound of his armour lightly clicking as he turned to walk away. Wally half crawled to the plate and began wolfing down the food. "I would ration that if I were you. It's all you'll be getting until midday tomorrow."  
Wally stopped. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?! Well then can I at least have some bandages? Your _Warrior_ kinda shot me!"

He sat against the door, slowly munching on small pieces of cheese for what seemed like forever until a small roll of bandages were passed through. He impulsively picked them up and immediately wrapped them tightly around his shoulder, and partially down his arm to tie a knot. He sighed in part-relief and got up to continue his work.

* * *

Nightwing limped over to where the other team members were (excepting Bart), much to Artemis' protests. "What do want?!" La'gaan snarled.  
"I-"  
"Wanted to drag us out back up there to die like the other three members of YOUR team?!"  
Dick glared, "No. And Kid Flash is NOT dead. He's been enslaved."  
"Yeah, probably like us when you next take us up." La'gaan stood up and stomped towards Dick.  
"Look I didn't know-"  
"-Oh, so Blue just happened to show up and kill-"  
"-I didn't-"  
"-Robin?! And Zatanna?! Neptune's beard! Their deaths are your fault! THEIR BLOOD IS ON _YOUR_ HANDS!"

The two stood and exchanged glares and dirty looks from one another until La'gaan swore under his breath in Atlantean and stomped out of the room, Kaldur following. "Nightwing." M'gann reached out to him.  
"No. No he's right. They...it's my fault that Tim and Zatanna are dead. I...I was the one that led the attack on the Reach's ship, it's my fault Wally's been taken...and I'm gonna be the one to bring him back."  
"But 'Wing, your injuries..." M'gaan concerned, indicating his crutches.  
"If I don't go now, Wally is more or less likely to end up like Timmy and Zee!" Dick said, and limped away to sit and think through how he was going to go abouts his little mission.

'_He's gonna get himself killed.'_ M'gann said through the mind link.  
'_Well he's not gonna listen to us, there was only one person who he would listen to...'_ Artemis looked down. '_Sorry I shouldn't have mentioned any-'_ Just then, Kaldur walked back into the room.  
"I have talked to La'gaan, and found out the reason for his sudden anger." He stated and he sat back down. "It appears to be the deaths of Zatanna and Robin, and the disappearance of Wally. He's strongly refusing to work with Nightwing."  
"Will he go back? To get Wally back? To defeat the Reach?" (whoever asks)  
"No. He's refusing to leave the Watchtower." Kaldur said.  
"I don't blame him," Dick's voice was barely audible. "I should have asked everyone before forcing them out like that. If I had asked, this wouldn't have happened. If I would have asked for everyone's opinion on the task, nobody would have died."

"Dick you can't blame yourself-"  
The younger teen cut the Kryptonian off, "Don't. Just don't." Nightwing finished putting a brace on his leg and stood up. "Don't follow me."

That last small sentence got the team silent, as they watched him limp off to avenge the Reach and get his best friend and brother back. He stopped for a few seconds beside Zatanna's body -which was laid on an infirmary bed, arms set crossed over her chest, holding a bunch of her favourite flowers- and kissed her forehead one last time, then walked away.

"Uuhh...we are going after him, right?" Beast Boy asked.

* * *

The Young Justice team had waited a few minutes, sorting out an acceptable mission plan. Beast Boy, Miss Martian, Aqualad, Superboy, Wondergirl and Red Arrow set out in pursuit of Nightwing, to help out on the new task, whereas Lagoon Boy -having simply refused to go- and Artemis stayed behind to watch over Bart. "I'll contact you through com-link if anything happens." Artemis said, as the team departed.

"Do you think he'll heal?" La'gaan asked Artmeis, oblivious of the departure as he looked down at Bart.  
"He has to, La'gaan." She responded, walking over to him. "He's made some progress since he got here." She sat beside the boy and watched him as he slept.  
"But that-"  
"Don't jinx it, La'gaan." Artemis half smiled at the Atlantean. They watched the boy in silence until Artemis got back up and said, "So, I hear you refused to join in the mission?"  
La'gaan ignored her at first, but answered when she cleared her throat and repeated the question. "Yeah, I did." He said, and sat beside Bart.

"Why?"  
"Why do you think? With Nightwing keep killing every one when we go to that place, I'd be surprised seeing myself go with them." He sighed and continued, "They should've just left him to his own mission. Left him to die to his own foolishness instead of follow him into his little trap."

Artemis stared at him in disbelief at first, then stood up and leant over Bart, and full-on slapped La'gaan on his cheek, leaving a visible mark. "HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT HIM LIKE THAT!" She shouted, and walked around the bed to stand face-to-face against the fish. "HE'S DOING THIS FOR WALLY! FOR THE REST OF US! IF IT WASN'T FOR HIM, THE REACH PROBABLY WOULD HAVE ALREADY TAKEN AN ADVANTAGE OVER ALL OF US! PROBABLY OVER EARTH!"  
Startled by Artemis's outrage, La'gaan had only stood and stared, then after a few seconds of staring, he said, "Well, actually, if it wasn't for him, then we wouldn't even be in this position! We wouldn't be fighting for our lives like this! We wouldn't even have lost any team members!"

The sound of the slap, the shouting, and all the arguing had woken Bart up. He looked around, still exhausted, and cleared his throat as loud as he could as he smiled at the archer and Atlantean. They both stopped arguing, and looked down at him. "Where's everyone else? And why are you fighting?" He asked, his voice quiet. He shuffled in an attempt to sit up, but slumped his head back down as a pain shot straight through his arm and back. He then stressed a smile and repeated, "Why are you fighting?"  
Artemis and La'gaan looked back at each other and back at Bart, and replied in sync, "Nothing." La'gaan then strode away and Artemis sat back down beside the infirmary bed in which the speedster lay.  
Suddenly moving onto a brand new topic, she asked, "How are you feeling?"  
Bart half smiled and replied, "Moded. Totally moded. I can't even move without wanting to yell cuz of the pain. And not only that, but my arm's totally moded, like so moded I can't crash that mode kinda moded. And also-"  
"-So you're not so good I take?" Artemis smiled.  
"Nope." Bart smiled back. He looked back up at the ceiling and asked, "Do you know where the others are? Are they ok? And where's Wally? Is _he_ ok?"  
"They've gone back to the ship to get Wally. He's been captured by them. And I assure you, Bart, that everybody is ok." She said in response. '_Probably not for long, but they'll be ok." _She thought. "Why don't you get some more rest? It'll help you heal." She smiled, and ruffled the boys hair before walking away to meet back up with La'gaan to apologise for her violence.


End file.
